Banks rush to hire million-dollar AI chiefs — even as experts predict the role’s demise – Firstpost

Banks across major financial centres are scrambling to appoint chief artificial intelligence (AI) officers, creating one of the most sought-after and highly paid executive roles in the industry. Yet even as salaries climb into the millions and competition for talent intensifies, many experts believe the position itself may eventually become obsolete.

According to a Bloomberg report, lenders from Sydney to London are racing to recruit senior AI leaders as they seek to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across their businesses. Recent appointments at HSBC Holdings, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Lloyds Banking Group underscore how rapidly the role has gained prominence in the banking sector.

Banks battle for scarce AI talent

The surge in demand has pushed compensation packages sharply higher. Data from research firm Equilar cited by Bloomberg shows that chief AI officers command median annual pay of around $1.6 million, with top earners receiving close to $3.5 million. The scarcity of experienced AI executives has also sparked a talent war, forcing banks to poach specialists from rivals.

The hiring spree reflects growing pressure on financial institutions to integrate AI into operations ranging from customer service and risk management to compliance and trading. Bank executives increasingly view AI adoption as essential to maintaining competitiveness in an industry facing rapid technological disruption.

A role with an expiry date?

However, the long-term future of the role remains uncertain.

“Any chief AI officer should operate on the premise that they should not have a role in the future,” David Hardoon, who left Standard Chartered earlier this year after serving as global head of AI enablement, told Bloomberg News. Comparing AI to technologies that eventually became commonplace, Hardoon asked: “Do we have a chief Excel officer? Do we have a chief email officer?”

His view is shared by several industry leaders who argue that AI will ultimately become embedded across every function within an organisation, eliminating the need for a dedicated executive overseeing the technology.

Demand for AI leadership surges

The rapid rise of the position nevertheless highlights how seriously corporations are taking AI. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value, the share of organisations employing a chief AI officer jumped to 76 per cent this year from just 26 per cent in 2025, based on a survey of 2,000 chief executives across 33 countries and 21 industries.

LinkedIn data also points to soaring demand. In Singapore, AI leadership positions have emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories for job listings, even as companies struggle to find qualified candidates.

What exactly does a chief AI officer do?

Experts say the responsibilities attached to the role vary significantly from one institution to another. In some organisations, chief AI officers are tasked with shaping enterprise-wide AI strategies and identifying use cases for the technology. In others, they oversee employee training, governance frameworks and regulatory compliance.

“The first is someone to actually make sense of what your company’s AI strategy is,” Pei Ying Chua, head economist for Asia-Pacific at LinkedIn, told Bloomberg News. She noted that AI leaders often help determine which technologies a company should adopt and which it should avoid.

Universities cash in on the AI boom

The uncertainty surrounding the role’s long-term relevance has not stopped educational institutions from capitalising on the trend. Universities including the University of Chicago, Duke University, Cornell University and the University of Michigan have launched executive programmes aimed at aspiring AI leaders.

Matt Cohn, senior director of programme strategy innovation at the University of Chicago, described demand for such courses as extraordinary.

“The rate of growth in this role is insane,” he told Bloomberg, noting that executives and entrepreneurs are increasingly seeking the skills associated with chief AI officers.

AI may eventually become ‘invisible’

Some of the banking industry’s newest AI leaders acknowledge that their own positions may evolve or shrink over time. Ranil Boteju, who recently left Lloyds Banking Group to become Commonwealth Bank’s first chief AI officer, said AI would eventually become “invisible” within organisations, much like electricity.

“The chief AI officer will be a very small role” in the future, he said in a company video cited by Bloomberg News. “It will be embedded into everything we do and we won’t even know it’s there.”